Re: [Firebird-docs] Complete Language Reference

[Cosmin A. <cos...@gm...>]

>> Are there any copyright restrictions to doing this (merging langref
>> with relnotes and ref guides) ?
>
> Yes. We cannot use material from any of the InterBase docs, because
> they are (c) Borland/Inprise. For the same reason, we cannot use most
> of the IBPhoenix LangRef, because it largely consists of the same
> material. (Borland never took any action, possibly because they
> themselves used material that was at least co-owned by the IBPhoenix
> people without permission.)

So Interbase was released with a license that allows derived works to
be published, hence Firebird, but the reference documentation was
released under a different license that doesn't allow derivation? If
that is so, then what is the option for Firebird to have a complete
reference manual without infringing langref's copyright? I mean, even
if you start from the sources all over again, you will still end up
with most of the same stuff so it's impossible to prove original work.
This looks like a (c) trap to me.